Hamlet

Synopsis: A Polish television version of Hamlet directed for stage by Lukasz Barczyk and adapted for television by Janusz Rudnicki with Michal Czernecki in the title role.
Language: Polish
Country: Poland
Medium: Television
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Transmission details: 29 Mar 2004 (Channel: Teatr TV - TVP1)
Duration: 110 mins

Director

Janusz Rudnicki; Lukasz Barczyk

Cinematographer

Pawel Edelman

Writer

William Shakespeare

Music

Jacek Ostazewski

Production Design

Maksymilian Szoc

Costume

Magdelena Maciejewska

Adaptor for Television

Jozef Paszkowski

Cast

General: HAMLET was the first of four artistic projects entitled "Pearls of the Millennium." The tag essentially promoted the main sponsor of the enterprise, the Millennium Bank, but the phrase also attempts to describe outstanding works of art that are meaningful for the new millennium.

Barczyk’s HAMLET is set in an undefined historical period which combines post-punk leather jackets and swords. The spectacular interiors of an old salt mine at Wieliczka make Elsinor a mysterious, cold and monumental place. The translation is into stylised 17th century Polish.
Textual information: Translated into Polish by Jozef Paszkowski
Reviews: Cieslak, Magdelena. Shakespeare Bulletin 24, no. 1 (2006), pp47-55. "Hamlet wears a worn-out leather jacket, combining the charm of James Dean with Sid Vicious" (Cieslak).
Fabiszak, Jacek, Polish Televised Shakespeares: a Study of Shakespeare Productions Within the Television Theatre Format (Poznan: Motivex, 2005). pp. 243-8, 251-9.

British Universities Film & Video Council